Book Review : The Rose & the Dagger

★★★★★

“It was because they were two parts of a whole. He did not belong to her. And she did not belong to him. It was never about belonging to someone. It was about belonging together.”

 

I want to thank Dara for buddy-reading this beautiful duology with me, you made it an even more beautiful experience and you’re the cutest person ever!

And now getting into my thoughts about this book. How do you even review the second book? Like it’s so complicated not to give away things from the first. OMG. I will try. (Hope you won’t witness the biggest fail ever)

This book had a lot of pain in it, pain that I hadn’t been warned about! I feel like the author manipulated me into loving a certain couple just to have them ripped away from me and I can’t do it, not anymore. They were my babies, whyyyyy?

I hope you won’t be able to tell who these people are, because I want you to find it yourself and be devasted (like I was). This book was a great conclusion and I have to say it’s one of the best one that uses the trope of separating the main couple in the second book. Sometimes this trope is so awful, but this time it worked nicely!

I loved Shazi and Khalid, as always, I just added another otp to my list because their relationship is very beautiful and they are very supportive to each other. I literary would die for characters that would die for each other. (I’m such an idiot)

I loved the action parts, the magic that wasn’t the emphasis of this book, but still stole my heart. I adored the family dynamics, from Khalid and Jalal’s troubled connection to Shazi’s interactions with her sister and father (whom I deeply dislike and hold him accountable for everything bad that ever went in this book).

Despina is my girl and I will protect her at all costs. Her romance arc was very beautiful and I’m so happy with how things ended for them because they deserved happiness!

This book makes you feel for every side-character, even those characters that appeared for 5 seconds and had only one line. Yeah, even that one. You will love him/her.

Besides, making me sad – I can’t complain about anything when it comes to this book. I’ve already read all the three novellas and I’m left hangover after reading this duology because wow, I haven’t read such a great book in a long time!!! Especially one that includes everything from romance to war to curses to swoon-worthy heroes to strong heroines. Wow. Wow.

I highly recommend this duology, please don’t be like me. Don’t be afraid of the hype, give in to it because I can reassure you that it’s that good!

Have you read this book? Were you left as devasted as I was?

Also, can you recommend me any other One Thousand and One Nights retellings?

Follow me on Twitter | Befriend/Follow me on Goodreads | Follow me on bloglovin’